FreetheLand

"Free The Land!" is the miltant slogan of the New Afrikan Independence Movement (N.A.I.M.). The NAIM is the national liberation movement of Black People in the United States for complete political, economic, and cultural independence. NAIM is one part of the international People's Revolution.

Two weeks ago, Black
students at UC-Berkeley presented a series of demands to the university administration
including renaming Barrows Hall after former Black Panther, Assata Shakur.At the same time, after a student threw human
feces on the Cecil Rhodes statue at the University of Cape Town in South Africa,
Black students began the “Rhodes Must Fall” campaign.One of its main objectives is to remove the monument
of the mass murderer, Cecil Rhodes.While
both campaigns have clear symbolic meaning, they include larger issues like an
infusion of Black theorists in the curriculum, hiring more Black professors,
on-campus workers rights and more.

The rise in
student activism must be seen as connected to larger global rebellions such as
#BlackLivesMatter, Economic Freedom Fighters, and NUMSA’s United Front.Social movements help to produce a shift in
culture and consciousness.For example,
in the US, following the Ferguson uprising, hip-hop artists from G-Unit to
Lauryn Hill made songs to express their “Black Rage” at police terrorism.Even rapper J-Cole openly espoused Anti-Capitalist
politics in an interview on mainstream radio in New York.As movements emerge, new possibilities are
imagined, the impossible becomes possible.

Culture is a product of history.Historically,
under capitalism, white workers were exploited to produce commodities, but
Black workers WERE commodities.So,
although the oppression of Blacks is primarily economic, slavery and
colonialism produced an ideological superstructure to legitimate and reinforce
white supremacy in general and anti-Black racism in particular.Since all human beings have a history and
culture, one of the primary means used to exclude Blacks from the Human family
is to write Black people out of history.

In response to
centuries of dehumanization, Africans have resisted white domination through
forming Maroon communities, plantation insurrections, Populist, Labor, Black
Power, National Liberation Movements and more. While the colonizer uses history
to deny our humanity, for us, Our Art and History is a weapon we use to cut the
throat of our oppressor. The learning of
history helps us to de-colonize our minds but to be clear, there is no
pre-existing ‘African nation’ prior to slavery that we are attempting to
reclaim.

Our intent is to
supplant white imposed definitions of reality with Black definitions of the
world, therefore, we assert that Black or
Pan African identity is principally a product of the Black Liberation Movement.
Our common
oppression is not what makes us African, it is our movement for freedom that
give us consciousness of our identity. Therefore, we are not just acted upon
but are agents of history.

The Cultural
Revolution is not a Negritude project wherein we attempt to return to an
idealized African past or promote what Leopold Senghor calls “intuitive
reasoning” (Emotion is Negro, Reason is Greek).The primary purpose of the Pan African Cultural Revolution is to
transform the values, consciousness, attitudes, norms, mores, etc. of African
people.As we transform society, we transform ourselves.Our Cultural Revolution has four goals:
1) To eliminate corruption and bureaucracy among leadership 2) To promote intellectual
independence 3) To encourage mass participation and 4) To instill a cohesive
identity and an anti-authoritarian ethic.

Neocolonialism
and neoliberalism have taken firm root in continental and diasporic African
communities.Neocolonialsim requires the
complicity of a comprador elite to facilitate labor exploitation and resource
extraction.Our Cultural Revolution is a
class struggle in the realm of ideas and culture wherein our current leaders
must transform or be replaced.Furthermore, neoliberalism is more than a set of policies, it is an ideology
that presupposes the individual as the primary actor and unit of analysis.

In opposition, mass-based social movements advance
the communal values of solidarity, cooperation, self-sacrifice, and
discipline.Finally, the neoliberal
policies that facilitated the growth of NGOs and non-profits have assisted in the
ideological and organizational domination of White Liberals.This is a perennial problem in Africa and the
diaspora that can only be overcome by developing independent All-Black
organizations.To ensure its success,
the Pan African Cultural Revolution must have concrete policy objections.These include the creation of:

In addition, as
a central component of the Cultural Revolution, all of the above institutions
must create mass-based popular education regarding gender and sexuality in
order to challenge the patriarchal and hetero-normative ideas inculcated through
imperialism.The above organizations and
institutions are the primary vehicles to advance our Political Revolution.Therefore, the Cultural Revolution does not
occur before or after the Political Revolution but happens simultaneously and
continues once we capture state power.

Our Cultural
Revolution is inspired by the Black Arts Movement in the US, the Black
Consciousness Movement in South Africa, and the Cultural Revolution in
China.The fundamental objective of Political
Revolution is to democratize the means of production i.e. the establishment of
a Socialist system.Although we keep ‘Politics
in Command,’ without the Cultural Revolution the Political Revolution is
impossible.

Amandla! (Power)

Black Power!

Asijiki! (Forward)

#BlackLivesMatter!

A Luta Continua! (the struggle continues)

References

I Write What I Like by Steve Biko

Unity and Struggle by Amilcar Cabral

Wretched of the Earth by Frantz Fanon

A Dying Colonialism by Frantz Fanon

The Black Aesthetic by (Editor) Addison Gayle

Class Struggle in Africa by Kwame Nkrumah

Groundings With My Brothers by Walter Rodney

Revolution, Culture, and Pan-Africanism by Sekou Toure

The Unknown Cultural Revolution by Dongping Han

“On
Contradiction” by Mao Tse-Tung

Benjamin Woods is a PhD candidate at Howard University and co-founder of Students Against Mass Incarceration. He can be contacted at benjaminwoods1@yahoo.com, or through his website FreeTheLand.

Tuesday, December 30, 2014

South Africa and
the United States are presently in the early stages of a militant mass Black
movement.In South Africa, MPs affiliated
with the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), a self described revolutionary
organization, disrupted parliament chanting ‘pay back the money’ to senior
officials in the ruling ANC government accused of corruption. Similarly, in the
US, militant activists commandeered the microphone at a march sponsored by the National
Action Network to protest their exclusion.While both instances are portrayed as generational divides and
disrespect to ‘the elders’, these are ideological disagreements that reflect a
conflicting set of class interests and consciousness in the US and South
Africa.

Ronald Walters
in the Price of Racial Reconciliation
and George Fredrickson in White Supremacy
and Black Liberation compare and
contrast the legal systems and Black Liberation Movement (BLM) in each country.Both countries are white settler states that
had mass movements to eliminate racial apartheid.Although the fundamental problem is global
capitalism, it expresses itself in three important ways: neocolonialism, neoliberalism, and militarism.

‘Osagyefo’ Kwame
Nkrumah defined neocolonialism as a nation that has gained political freedom
but is still economically dependent on external powers. Last year, Ronnie Kasrils, a national
leader of the ANC and SACP, acknowledged that in the 1980s & 90s ANC ‘gavetoo much away’ during its negotiated settlement with the apartheid
government.The negotiated settlement by
the ANC left the land, mines, banks etc in the hands of white monopoly
capital.After 1994, the ANC promoted
Black Economic Empowerment (BEE).BEE
was a program that consolidated a Black capitalist class by establishing quotas
in the economic sector.In essence, the
ANC transitioned from a liberation movement to a neocolonial government.

In the US during the McCarthy era, Black
liberal organizations such as NAACP and the Urban League either assisted or
remained silent when Black radicals like Paul Robeson and WEB Dubois suffered
political repression for their uncompromising stand on human rights.Without this ‘negotiated settlement’, the Black
liberal demands of the Civil Rights Movement would not likely have been
accepted.Then, in the 1960s, Richard
Nixon supported government programs that reflected his slogan that “Black
capitalism is Black Power.”This process helped to create the Black misleadership class that BAR consistently highlights and the
emerging movement must confront.

Since the 1970s,
there has been a neoliberal counterrevolution to undermine progressive and
radical social movements through the promotion of policies such as trade
liberalization, privitazation, deregulation, and cutting of social services.The EFF has argued that the ANC abandoned the
redistributive policies of the Freedom Charter for the neoliberal policies of
GEAR and the NDP.

In the US
context, the Black misleadership class remained loyal to the Democratic Party
even as it transitioned to the neoliberal policies of the Democratic Leadership
Council and Blue Dog Democrats.While
the Democrats supported welfare reform, deregulation of radio airwaves in 1996
and repeal of the Glass Steegal Act, the Black political class said we must
support ‘lesser of two evils.”These and
other neoliberal policies not only deepened class contradictions in African
America but also the perceived need for police containment in both US and South
Africa.

In the US and
South Africa, the domestic police force has become militarized.The ANC government inherited the highly
militarized apartheid era police force and a culture of anti-Black racism.Therefore, even with a majority Black
government the police terrorism against Black people remains a major problem in
the country.In order to combat the high
crime rates caused by economic dislocation and social alienation, in 2009, the
police commissioner once suggested the country adopt a ‘shoot to kill’policy.The most famous recent instance of
police terrorism in South Africa, was the case of 34 miners at Marikana
murdered while protesting for higher wages.

Stateside, calls
for law and order and the repeated refrain of ‘Black on Black’ violence
legitimated the militarization of domestic police.This militarization began in the 1960s, when the local police departments created SWAT teams in order to
contain urban rebellions and radical Black organizations.And even though the CBC is well aware of the
Black complaints of police terrorism in their districts, four-fifths voted against an amendment that would have halted Pentagon
military transfers to U.S. police departments.Now, there is an incipient mass Black
movement to challenge them and these colonial policies.

Although these
two movements have several similarities, there are differences as well.A significant difference is political
development.One reason being that the
South African Communist Party played a critical role in the anti-apartheid
movement and is one part of the Tripartite Alliance.This means the South African Left has a
higher level of ideological and organizational development.For example, the EFF is a revolutionary
socialist and Black consciousness organization with over 500,000 members and 25
members of parliament in just a little over a year of existence.At its National Assembly held Dec. 13-16 in Bloemfontein, the 33 year old Julius Malema was elected
President.The rank and file of the
membership appears to be in their early twenties.

The protest
movement that has emanated from Ferguson, MO has captured the worlds attention
from Venezuela to North Korea to Palestine.It has hearlded a new generation of radical Black organizers who before
the murder of Mike Brown had never even attended a protest.In addition, the national discourse has
undergone a seismic shift over the past few weeks due to their grassroots
organizing.This movement is truly a
game changer.But because of the
political repression of McCarthyism and Cointelpro, this generation, my generation,
has not had the same the level of political continuity and mentorship as our
counterparts in South Africa.For example,
Malema and other leaders in EFF received part of their political education in
revolutionary Cuba.

The South
African and US based Black Liberation Movement (BLM) have a lot to teach each other.Unfortunantly, at the moment, the two
movements do not appear to be in conversation with one another.The EFF strategy of ‘economic emancipation in
our lifetimes’ and a national assembly to create a political program, point a
way forward for the BLM in the US.At this point, the radical sectors of the BLM
must develop organization, strategy, and concrete objectives. It should plan a
national assembly with four clear objectives:

The organizations that have been created over past five
years to combat the prison system by young Black people (Dream Defenders,
Millineal Activists United, #BlackLivesMatter, Students Against Mass
Incarceration, Lost Voices etc.) and more established groups (MXGM, AAPRP,
Uhuru Movement etc.) can make such a call.They have the organizers and clout do so.Hopefully, something is already in the
works.But for now, in the words of the
EFF ideologue Frantz Fanon, we “either must fulfill our mission, or betray
it.”

Benjamin Woods is a PhD candidate at Howard University and co-founder of Students Against Mass Incarceration. He can be contacted at benjaminwoods1@yahoo.com, or through his website FreeTheLand.

Monday, September 29, 2014

A new book called The Coming Revolution, argues that, contrary to the dominant narrative in western media, the South African Revolution remains incomplete. Even a cursory examination of the current state of affairs in South Africa reveals that the racial and class inequalities have, in fact, increased and the commanding heights of the economy (land, mines, banks etc) are still dominated by a white minority. In short, the masses are still suffering. Since the advent of political democracy in 1994, the ANC government has promoted policies like G.E.A.R. and N.D.P. that liberalize and privatize sectors of the economy. The author boldly states in the book, “the ANC is committed to a right-wing, neoliberal and capitalist agenda which has kept the majority of our people on the margins of South Africa’s economy.”

In the past, ANC Youth League leaders like Nelson Mandela and Robert Sobukwe promoted more militant positions during the liberation movement. More recently, in 2008 at the ANC Youth League 23rd National Congress a resolution passed that declared “the state should control and be in ownership of strategic sectors of the South African economy.” Once Juluis Malema and the ANC Youth League began to organize working class and unemployed Black youth to achieve these objectives, he was expelled for ‘disciplinary reasons.’ This treachous action demonstrates the unwillingness of the ANC government to live up to the stated goals of the Freedom Charter. At this point, they realized a new independent organization was necessary to complete the revolution.

Enter the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF). In response to popular demand by workers, students, traditional leaders, youth, non-profits, and others the former ANC Youth league leaders convened a National Assembly on What is to be Done? July 26-27 2013 to create a constitution and founding manifesto. In its founding documents and actions the organization draws inspiration from a broad revolutionary tradition. The title for its National Assembly is taken from a seminal text What is to be Done? by V.I. Lenin, leader of the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia (1917). The founding date was selected to correspond with the beginning of the Cuban Revolution (July 26th Movement). Even the red uniform of the EFF with matching berets is a nod to historic and contemporary revolutions such as in Venezuela. In this vein, they adopted seven cardinal pillars:

1. Expropriation of South Africa’s land without compensation for equal redistribution.

2. Nationalisation of Mines, banks, and other strategic sectors of the economy, without compensation.

3. Building State and government capacity, which will lead to abolishment of Tenders.

4. Free quality education, healthcare, houses, and sanitation.

5. Massive protected industrial development to create millions of sustainable jobs including Introduction of minimum wages in order to close the wage gap between the rich and the poor.

6. Massive development of the African economy and advocating for a move from reconciliation to justice in the entire continent.

7. Open, accountable, corrupt-free government and society without fear of victimisation by State agencies.

In the book, the EFF references several important African revolutionaries such as Amilcar Cabral and Thomas Sankara who understood the dictum 'Without a revolutionary theory, there can be no successful revolution.’ Therefore, the EFF defines itself as Marxist-Leninist-Fanonian (M-L-F). M-L-F provides the movement with a scientific method of analysis and practice that identifies political economy as primary.

At the same time, they state “Black consciousness found a proper home in the EFF and is expressed through its Fanonian character.” In short, the EFF is not a dogmatic Marxist organization that blindly copies the Soviet Union or China. Instead, M-L-F is a living science that acknowledges the psychological impact of over four centuries of colonialism and seeks to build a sustainable cultural revolution. And demonstrating their Pan African dimension they “advocate for the ultimate integration of the African continent through the erosion and eventual elimination of unnecessary borders.” Kwame Nkrumah’s dream lives through the EFF.

After one year in existence, the EFF claims a membership of approximately 400,000 and counts 25 members of national parliament. Read that sentence again. Although EFF has an electoral component, they are clear “the nature and character of our struggle will be that of a grassroots movement- a Protest Movement for fundamental change.” In its short time, they have supported women’s rights, elimination of homophobia, and families of the 34 miners at Marikana. In conclusion, let us hope that the EFF vision of economic emancipation spreads throughout the African continent, the African diaspora, and, eventually, the entire world.

Benjamin Woods is a PhD candidate at Howard University and co-founder of Students Against Mass Incarceration. He can be contacted at benjaminwoods1@yahoo.com, or through his website FreeTheLand.

Saturday, June 14, 2014

In 2014 Pan Africanists will commemorate two seminal events in the history of the African liberation movement: 1) the 50th anniversary of the successful revolution in Zanzibar and 2) the 90th birthday of Mohamed Babu. Although he passed away in 1996, his life is an excellent illustration of the connections between the various movements and figures in the Black World. Sadly, so much of Babu’s immense contributions to Pan Africanist, Leftist, and progressive movements has been forgotten. This is unfortunate because of his enduring love and commitment to Zanzibar, the African continent, and humanity at large.

Babu was born in 1924 in Zanzibar, a small but historic island on the east coast of Africa. Since the 1830s, Zanzibar was dominated by Omani Sultans who were middlemen during the era of British colonialism. While studying abroad in London, Babu was attracted to radical Left wing ideas. After returning to Zanzibar, he soon became a leader in the Zanzibar Nationalist Party (ZNP), one of the preeminent Nationalist organization on the island.

As Secretary General of the ZNP, he promoted a socialist ideology and built international networks of Black and radical organizers. For example, in 1958 at the founding conference of the Pan African Movement for East and Central Africa (PAFMECA), Babu was elected secretary. Later that year while traveling to the historic All African People’s Conference in Accra, Ghana, his delegation would have a chance encounter with future Congolese head of state and Pan African icon Patrice Lumumba in Leopoldville. At this point, Lumumba was isolated and virtually unknown outside of the Congo but the invitation and travel support provided by PAFMECA allowed him to network with liberation movements throughout Africa. Lumumba would later be assassinated in a CIA-backed coup.

Once at the AAPC, Babu quickly connected with the most radical forces such as Frantz Fanon and the FLN of Algeria. Fanon, Babu, and others convinced those who had achieved independence using non-violent methods like Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana that in some circumstances armed struggle is a necessity. The official slogan adopted for the conference was “Independence, by any means necessary.” Malcolm X and other Black activists in the diaspora would hear and popularize this slogan.

Furthermore, Babu was a close friend and comrade of Malcolm X. They first met in July 1964 at the second summit of the Organization of African Unity (OAU) in Cairo, Egypt. Later when Malcolm visited Tanzania it was Babu who introduced him to other governments officials and when Babu came to Harlem, Malcolm introduced him to the activist community. It was radical African leaders such as Babu who helped push Malcolm to the Left after his departure from the Nation of Islam. In his final months, Malcolm would claim “the system of capitalism needs some blood to suck” so it wasn't a shock to him that “all of the countries that are emerging today from under the shackles of colonialism are turning toward socialism.”

Babu’s international organizing was directly connected to his political work in Zanzibar. The ZNPs rival was the Afro-Shiriza Party (ASP), a British backed right wing formation that used the slogan “Uhuru Zuia” (Kiswahili for ‘stop the move to independence’). Although Babu and others promoted a progressive anti-imperialist platform in the ZNP, by mid-1963 reactionary forces exacerbated long standing racial tensions between Africans and Arabs on the island to gain the upper hand in the organization. Therefore, months before Zanzibar gained independence in December 1963, Babu co-founded the revolutionary socialist Ummah Party.

The party’s creation was a correct analysis of the potentially revolutionary conditions. On January 12th 1964, the unemployed and oppressed youth of Zanzibar rose up in spontaneous rebellion. The Ummah Party leadership used its organizing experience and training in Cuba to teach the youth revolutionary tactics and gain leadership of the insurrection. The Ummah party and disaffected youth removed the Sultan from power. This was Africa’s first successful revolution to overthrow neocolonialism.

After these game changing events, Frank Carlucci, a US state department official, openly stated that US policy was to prevent Zanzibar from becoming the “Cuba of Africa from which sedition would have spread to the continent.” A few days later, officer mutinies in Kenya, Uganda, and Tanganyika fed into US fears about a communist conspiracy. One US state department memo asserts “our central purpose is to strengthen Nyerere” (the new President of Tanganyika). Then as the US had hoped, if not outright engineered, Nyerere asked the British for military assistance to put down the officer mutinies. The US fundamentally thought he, Nyerere, was a leader they could control. After several private meetings in May 1964 , the US, Nyerere, and right wing leaders in Zanzibar engineered an Tanganyika-Zanzibar Union. The union transferred most major foreign and domestic policy decisions to mainland Tangayika and away from the revolutionary forces who captured state power in Zanzibar.

Although Nyerere is considered to be one of the African continents most progressive independence leaders, history presents a different story. He promoted a unique brand of ‘African socialism’ based on the notion of a communal, classless traditional African society. His economic policies of ‘self-reliance’ led to Tanzania having a food surplus to importer of food. Babu, on the other hand, saw no contradiction between Pan Africanism and scientific socialism. For him, socialism was not based on a traditional African past or even the Soviet Union but the social conditions in contemporary Africa. In addition, unlike Nyerere who associated with the moderate gradualist in the Monrovia group, Babu supported the immediate unification of Africa.

After the Tanganyika-Zanzibar union he was appointed to what were in his opinion powerless positions in government primarily in order to watch him. He and his comrades functioned as the Left within the Tanzanian government shaping several of the regimes perceived progressive policies. But in 1972, following the murder of the President of Zanzibar, Babu was arbitrarily incarcerated by the allegedly progressive Julius Nyerere. It was because of an international campaign under the leadership of people like the Guyanese and Pan African freedom fighter Walter Rodney that Babu was released after six years.

Babu’s life is a reflection of the dialectical method he adopted in his life and work. His political work is an example of someone who found a fundamental unity in what appears to be opposing tendencies. He was a Zanzibarian Nationalist and a staunch internationalist. He claimed that Socialism would come through African unity and vice versa. He was miltant and uncompromising but argued radicals had to address the bread and butter issues of people. In conclusion, one of the major lessons of his life we should take away is encapsulated in the slogans of the 7th Pan African Congress he co-organized in Kampala, Uganda in 1994: ‘Resist Recolonisation’ and ‘Don’t Aganise, organize!”

Thursday, January 9, 2014

The January 1st edition of the Washington Post published an Op-Ed titled “The Resurgent Progressives.” The writer, E.J. Dionne, claims “the emergence of a Democratic left will be one of the major stories of 2014.” The author bemoans the rightward shift in American politics and admits the US “needs a real Left.” But do progressive local referendums, the ascendancy of individuals like Sen. Elizabeth Warren, and NYC mayor Bill De Blasio represent the “the real Left.” Hmm, I don’t think so. Once upon a time these figures would have been, at best, referred to as liberals even moderates by some.

Although the terms Left and Right are regularly applied in the white corporate media, they are rarely defined. Throughout most of the twentieth century, particularly the Cold War, “the Left” meant some form of socialism, communism, or anarchism. We should return to this definition. The central unifying factor of the “The Left” should be anti-capitalism. Speaking only of income inequality just. doesn't. quite. cut it. “The Left” must question private ownership itself and demand a complete redistribution of land and wealth including, but not limited to, the nationalization of banks, factories, and communications systems etc.

As previously stated, this was once the criteria. For example, Howard Zinn claims that one hundred years ago in 1914 the Socialist Party USA had over 1200 office-holders in the US. Twenty years later, during the era of the popular front, Robert Cohen in When the Old Left was Young writes that in 1936 half of all college students in this country participated in a one day strike and rally to protest fascism and war. At the height of the anti-war movement in 1970, over 10,000 people gathered in Philadelphia for the Revolutionary People's Convention to write a new US constitution. The keynote speaker was Black revolutionary, Huey Newton. These are examples of a truly insurgent Left.

None of those remarks are meant to belittle the accomplishments, impact, and possibilities of the liberal policy's that have been enacted. A case in point, eighteen states have legalized gay marriage, Washington and Colorado legalized marijuana, and like other municipalities, Washington DC has raised its minimum wage to $11.50. Similar to industrial unionism in the 1930s, if the SEIU and other labor unions commit hundreds, perhaps, thousands of young organizers to organize fast food, low wage workers there could be a strong multi-national labor movement in the US. The beacons of hope for a truly resurgent Left are socialist alternative city council woman Kshama Sawant in Seattle, WA and Revolutionary Black Nationalist Chokwe Lumumba in Jackson, MS. But what does a truly resurgent Left mean for the Black Liberation movement?

In Reluctant Reformers Robert Allen argues that US social reform movements from abolitionism to labor has been sabotaged by racism/white supremacy. Unfortunately, due to the ongoing impact of the southern strategy perfected by Ronald Reagan AND the Democratic party, racism hurts the chances of the success of multi-racial organizations even today. Moreover, it illustrates the continued relevance of Left Nationalist formation(s) (ex: African Blood Brotherhood, Black Panthers, MXGM). Following the strategy laid out in the Jackson Plan of participatory and economic democracy, the election of Chokwe Lumumba offers possibilities and potential lessons for "The Left" generally and the Black Left in particular. With the correct definition and strategy for "The Left" we can organize to smash capitalism and end national oppression, once and for all.

Benjamin Woods is a PhD candidate at Howard University and co-founder of Students Against Mass Incarceration. He can be contacted at benjaminwoods1@yahoo.com, or through his website FreeTheLand.

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About Me

The purpose of this blog is to provide a political and cultural analysis of historical and contemperary events as they relate to people of African descent. In addition, i hope to submit proposals for strategy and tactics which will advance the African Freedom Movement thereby, contributing to the liberation of all humanity. The author utilizes a Revolutionary Black Nationalist, Pan-Africanist, and socialist perspective. This blog is a "maroon space" designed to encourage independent thinking and discussion free from corporate control. i am originally from Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Currently, i am a Phd student in the Political Science department at Howard University and a member of student and community organizations.